Traveling Thailand without an itinerary

Thailand is a very travel friendly country, even without a planned itinerary it's easy to get around and make plans along the way.

Traveling without a planned trip has become a very popular way of traveling, especially in Thailand, but how do you actually find activities and excursions to do once you're there?

The answer is to be found in most hostels and travel agencies, they usually keep a massive rack filled with travel brochures.

Not only will you find the most popular activities in these travel brochures, but it will also lead you towards the hidden gems as well, it's how I found my way to the incredible Ang Thong national park off the coast of

Koh Samui.

Ang Thong is a series of limestone formations and small islands, 42 to be exact, located about one hour away from Koh Samui by boat. When you approach the islands you might come to recognize them from the post cards as they're one of the most iconic sites in Thailand, maybe the most iconic site of them all.

There's plenty of beaches on the islands for you to relax on, and if you're not the relaxing type a hike up to the top of the island might suit you. During your hike you're likely to see Dusky Langur monkeys, they're energetic little creatures swinging from tree to tree using their extremely long tail as support.

Ko Mae Ko is the most amazing island if them all with it's emerald lake in the middle of the island, surrounded by limestone formations. You reach the lake by a massive collection of stairs, they're very steep and you should count on a 40 minute climb and descent if you're in normal shape, sadly you can't swim in the lake.

Another great destination I found in the travel brochure rack is the Magic Alambic rum distillery on Koh Samui. It's the only rum distillery in Thailand and it's run by a nice french expat couple, Elisa and Michel. They opened the distillery in 2003 and today they produce a very refined and smooth rum in world class. They produce the rum solely from sugar canes, no molasses like in industrial rum, and it's all grown in Thailand.

They produce flavored rum using only natural fruit, featuring flavors like pineapple, lemon, coconut and orange. They also produce a couple of aged rums.

The distillery is easily accessible by motorbike, it's located along a fairly quiet road, so you don't have to take on the intense traffic of the main roads on the island.

 There's a lot to think about when it comes to these travel brochures, the price in the brochure is usually negotiable, like everything in Thailand, and it does include the commission for the agent making the reservation. If you're in a group you can use that to your advantage when negotiating, from my own experience you should aim for about a 15-20% discount on the advertised price. Although even if you have great possibilities of negotiating the price down as well, if you're planning on booking several activities over the course of several days you should book it all at once as this might bring the price down up to 20%.

Make sure to ask the agent you're making the reservation with about everything you might need to know, the trip organizers all supply different equipment for their trips, for some you might need to bring a snack while others can serve full meals, either way I'd recommend bringing a cup of instant noodles, just in case.

Also make sure to inquire about the safety on the trip, if you'll be going by boat make sure life jackets are available for example.

After spending two months traveling Thailand without an itinerary I can't do anything but praise the way of traveling like that. It opens up countless doors and opportunities and makes it possible to join other travelers on last minute trips and other spontaneous activities as you're not tied up to a predetermined plan.

I realize it might be frightening to a lot of people to go to a foreign country without a plan, but Thailand is the best place to start traveling this way; it's got a very developed tourism industry that actually feels easier to use than options in many western countries; it's all very focused on taking care of everything, from picking you up at your hotel to dropping you right back there when it's done.

So take the step into a more adventurous way of traveling, head out there without a plan!